We meet retired Admiral Dougal McTavish (Doug) waking from the surgery that took off his right hand. In retirement he had become a round-the-world yachtsman. Now he has just won the famous Chichester Gold Cup, the holy grail of such racers. One of several "accidents" that plagued the race he has just won involved Lady Antoinette de la Tour (Toni). She traces her bloodline, the sang real, to the Merovingian kings of France. Although Doug and Toni become lovers, she won't marry him. She is scheduled to marry a Baron who is also of the ancient bloodline. Additionally, she tells Doug, she is a Witch and cannot marry outside her religion. Depressed by the loss of the hand and of the woman he loves, he is pulled from his slump by the ?tting of a myoelectric hand and by being asked to investigate the strange, too-numerous problems in the race that won him the Cup. Reinstated in the British Navy at his old rank, he gathers a crew of his 'old ruf?ans' and some modern techies to further the investigation. His research leads into a world he never guessed existed: that of Wicca with its modern sexual mores. Central to the plot is the saving of a damsel in distress by our damaged hero. The winning of the lady becomes a matter of overcoming the requirement that she marry the 'right' mate, to reinforce and extend the sang real, the Merovingian bloodline.

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